Welcome to this exclusive interview with Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, as part of the Acceleration Economy Cloud Wars Top 10 CEO Outlook 2024 series. When Klein met with Bob Evans, he addressed topics including the business benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and how SAP is helping customers transform their businesses.
Register for Acceleration Economy’s Cloud Wars CEO Outlook 2024 Course, now available. Featuring exclusive interviews on strategy, AI, and customers with the CEOs of Cloud Wars Top 10 companies.
Highlights
The RISE program, acquisitions, and generative artificial intelligence (AI) showcase SAP’s commitment to innovation and customer-centricity.
SAP’s Cloud Transformation and RISE Program (02:58)
Klein has been with SAP for 24 years, and many people call him “a child of SAP.” For its journey to the cloud, it was very important for SAP (which runs many of the world’s most mission-critical business processes) to focus on its DNA, not to just shift technically to the cloud, but also to determine what truly makes a difference for customers. Customers’ needs are well served by SAP’s RISE program, as well as its Signavio and LeanIX acquisitions. SAP’s offerings combine processes, data, and systems. It looks at architecture and data layers and combines them with enterprise resource planning (ERP), HR, procurement, and additional systems.
Ask Cloud Wars AI Agent about this analysis
AI Adoption and Its Potential Impact on Businesses (07:12)
Priorities for 2024 include Business AI, launched at Sapphire in 2023, and SAP’s copilot, Joule. Everyone wants to invest in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). But also, everyone is missing a little bit of the “how” of working within business proof points. Sitting at the nexus of business and technology, SAP is in a unique position to show customers how GenAI can fit into their enterprise.
Using AI to Improve Business Planning and Operations (09:46)
Klein relates an anecdote about a retailer under pressure from dealing with an inventory surplus post-COVID. SAP could help in several ways. With AI, the customer could better predict demand. It could also simulate how to get rid of excess inventory by automatically adjusting procurement, production planning, and resource scheduling. This is the intelligence SAP infuses into its technology.
AI-Infused Planning (11:37)
SAP delivers critical value in helping customers in areas including financial planning, demand and supply planning, and workforce planning. Planning capabilities are integrated into its offerings to enable users to ask questions and gain insights from GenAI; AI-infused planning capabilities will provide a major boost.
